Bloodbath (Order of the Unseen #4)

Chapter Seven

Damien

J ensen floors it down the dark, deserted road, gripping the steering wheel with both hands so tightly his knuckles turn white. “They must be taunting us. It’s too soon for them to take her.”

“ Try… to take her,” I correct.

“They’re acting reckless,” Micah blurts out. “They’ve already taken two girls.”

“They might not be dead yet.”

“ Yet ,” I emphasize.

“Did you tell him?”

“No…” Jensen says, his voice trailing off.

I turn back to glare at Micah impatiently. “Tell me what?” His face hardens. “Spit it the fuck out!”

“The second girl to go missing,” he begins, his shoulders stiffening with each word, “she lived in the house. With her parents.”

“The house?”

“ The house , Damien,” he snaps, staring into my eyes.

Letting out a shallow breath, I shut my eyes.

The suicide house on Elm Street.

The house I lived in growing up. The same house I held my mother in when she died in my arms.

That evil piece of shit.

“When did you plan on telling me this?”

“I was waiting for the right time.” He plants a hand on my shoulder before I shrug him away. “Quinn and I were driving by on our way back from dinner. The cops were parked out front and speaking with the parents—”

“Quinn,” I interrupt. “Did you tell her?”

“Tell her what? About the missing girls?” Gritting my teeth, I shake my head. “About the house? The fuck?” he snaps, defensively. “Jesus, no. Of course not. I would never tell her about that. That’s all you. I can’t believe you’d even ask me that.”

“Well, I don’t fucking know,” I snap. “I was just making sure.”

“You should know me better than that.”

“Relax,” Jensen orders sharply, raising his voice, the vein in his forehead pulsating. “Now isn’t the fucking time. We have bigger issues right now, like finding these sick pricks before they have the chance to take another girl. Especially ours. The first girl went missing from the location where you grabbed your first victim all those years ago. Now this girl is taken from the house you grew up in.”

“This can’t be a coincidence,” Micah says. “They’re trying to send a message. They’re taunting us, Damien. They’re taunting you .”

My vision becomes clouded, my thoughts in shambles. I can feel myself drifting, consumed with rage and disgust. Doing what Micah has taught me in the past, I focus on my breathing, taking slow, deep breaths as I redirect my attention from Micah’s puppy dog eyes and out the windshield instead.

Jensen is right. Fighting right now won’t solve anything, and with a deep rage burning in my chest, I can’t afford to lose control.

Not right now.

My little Quinn needs me.

She needs all of us.

Suddenly, there’s a knot in my stomach.

“There!” I shout, pointing toward Salem Public Library, only about a mile down the street from Quinn’s sorority house.

It’s them.

I can feel it in my bones.

Three figures dressed in dark cloaks slip into the shadows, vanishing from our sight. I throw open the passenger side door and leap into the bitter air before the Jeep even has the chance to come to a stop. When it screeches to a halt, I briefly hear Jensen and Micah calling out for me to wait, to stay with them, except I’m already one with the darkness.

Although most people fear the absence of light, I welcome it. I find solace in a total black out. It was once the only companion I had back when I slept on park benches and stalked my father’s victims.

Over time, I’ve grown to find tranquility amongst the impenetrable shadows. I gauge my surroundings as I truck through the bushes and trees that lead toward the back of the building.

Every sound becomes more pronounced as I pull my society mask on. An owl hoots from somewhere above me. The dead leaves and ice crunch beneath my boots with each deliberate step I take. I make eye contact with a deer looming in the near distance. The smoke from a fire ignites my senses as I creep further into the night, when suddenly I get a vague scent of copper.

Blood .

I can’t tell if it’s real, or if I just crave it.

Somewhere to the right of me, a tree branch snaps. I rush toward the sound. Finally, my eyes begin to adapt to the darkness, and out of my peripheral vision I detect movement.

Caww. Caww.

A crow flies past me.

The back door to the library has been left open.

An unsettling silence greets me as I make my way through the wooden doors. The air is still, and what once was a welcoming space has now become a home to evil. My mind begins to play tricks on me, the shadows taking on a life of their own. The floorboards creak beneath my boots with each step as I walk down the narrow aisles, my body on high alert, ready for the inevitable.

Beads of sweat drip down my temples, the towering shelves looming over me as I scan the area for the Hallowed Divine’s location, but it’s quiet. There’s no evidence that anyone is here with me, other than the books watching me from their positions, the spines whispering ominous threats.

Quickening my pace, I turn the corner, frantically searching for anyone I can get my hands on. It’s much darker in this aisle, the flickering lamp residing on a table now hidden from another row of tall shelves.

There’s a subtle creak from close behind me.

Even with his attempt to catch me off guard, I spin around fast, grabbing hold of the dark figure who managed to sneak up on me. I’m too quick for him. The fucker should have known better. His back collides with the shelf as I slam him into it, books toppling onto the floor beside us. Extending out my arms, I curl my hands around his throat, pressing down.

The crow mask he’s wearing confirms our suspicions.

It’s them.

The Hallowed Divine.

Realization hits me like a freight train. They’ve already started their ritual for her. Completely enraged, I begin choking the life out of him, crushing his windpipe beneath my hands. He struggles against my grip, kicking out his legs and swatting at me. He digs his fingernails into my skin. She is mine. Adrenaline surges through me. Mine.

Quinn is mine.

Someone peels me away from him, and when I come face to face with another crow mask, my cortisol levels spike. Lunging forward, I deliver a crushing blow to his abdomen, sending him to his knees. He gasps for air, hunched over in distress.

The other one tackles me from behind, his elbow snug against my throat, cutting off my air. I try to break free from his chokehold by leaning forward, but for the first time in my life, my height puts me at a disadvantage. How the hell is this piece of shit taller than I am?

I grapple with him, throwing us backward and slamming his back into the shelves again and again. He grunts loudly with each impact, and finally, his grip on me begins to loosen.

The guy on his knees stumbles to his feet, leaping toward me. I give him one brutal kick to his chest, sending him hurtling into the bookshelf adjacent to us. Everything becomes a blur. In this moment, I only see red.

They got too close.

The guy choking me grows weak, and his arm starts to slip. I reach behind me and peel the mask off his face, clawing at his eyes. He screams, retreating, but I turn fast on my heel, my fist colliding with his nose, then his jaw, the force disorienting him more with each blow.

Fuck.

I wasn’t there to protect her.

I grab him by the collar of his cloak and toss him onto the ground beside his buddy, but to his dismay, his friend has somehow managed to escape, leaving this scumbag to me. His swollen eyes are filled with unprecedented terror as he succumbs to my vicious attack.

They’re trying to take another woman I love away from me.

“You were watching her?” I question coldly, spitting in his face. “You’ve been watching my girl?”

I continue to beat him until his face is left unrecognizable, and only then do I pull out my knife and press the tip of the blade into his already bloodied flesh. He’s barely alert, but thankfully, he’s still conscious enough to feel every slice as I carve out his eyes until he’s left with empty, hollow sockets.

His pleading and tortured cries are music to my ears.

His sight has now been taken from him. He’ll never look at her again.

More anger erupts deep in my chest, and I begin to choke the life out of him, my own blood from my split lip and eyebrow trickling onto him and mingling with his.

A low gurgling sound escapes him.

Red .

I crush his windpipe beneath my hands. He stops struggling, his limbs lifelessly falling to the floor beside his head.

My gaze flickers to the crow mask resting beside the shelf.

Red . Red .

Total black.

Jensen

“No,” I shout when we finally locate Damien. “No, Damien! Stop!”

Micah and I grab hold of his jacket with tight fists, pulling him off and dragging him away.

“You fucking idiot!” Micah scolds, rushing toward the limp, mutilated body on the floor, hoping there’s still a bit of life in him.

After a few seconds of silence, he looks up at me with defeated eyes.

“No pulse,” he says.

“There was another one. He escaped,” Damien explains with a dry tone and blank stare.

“Jesus Christ,” Micah snarls.

“This was not the place to shed blood. Not at a fucking school library. You know how long this is going to take to clean this mess up?” Examining the scene before me, the excessive amount of blood along with his crushed facial features, my blood runs cold. We really needed this fucker alive in order to get information on the cult’s whereabouts. “What the hell were you thinking, man?”

Spinning on my heel, I turn to glare at Damien, except he’s no longer there.

“Shit,” Micah curses, scanning the area erratically.

“I’ll find him.” I walk around the pools of blood and make my way down the aisle, following the trail of bloody footprints left by Damien.

The hairs rise on the back of my neck as I look up and down the aisles, following the crimson prints that lead straight to the back door, but disappear once they reach the dirt. I can’t find any sign of him. I even check outside around the side of the building, scanning the surrounding area to the best of my abilities. It’s quiet for the most part, other than the rustling of dead leaves and the faint sound of the wind. Damien is nowhere in sight.

I make my way back to Micah in defeat. “He got away.”

“Fuck,” Micah bites out. “He knew we needed him alive.”

Kneeling, I double check for a pulse… just to be sure. Nothing.

The moonlight casts a dim glow through the nearest window so we’re able to see a bit clearer. “Do you think he blacked out?” I ask, meeting Micah’s worried eyes.

He adjusts his mask. “If he did, then we’re fucked. You remember what happened last time.”

“I’ll call Asher,” I say, pulling out my phone.

He answers after one ring. “We just got to your place. Quinn is safe. Apollo is here, too.”

Letting out a relieved breath, I shut my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose between my fingers. At least the twins are with her. That’s good.

“Can she hear me right now?” I ask.

“She’s in the other room. Talk to me. Did you find them?”

“There’s a body,” I let out grimly.

“Fuck. Who?” Apollo chimes in.

Micah shines the light of his phone onto the face of someone we’ve never seen before.

“Not sure.”

“From the mask here beside him, he’s gotta be a member of the Hallowed Divine.” Micah snatches the phone from my grasp and places it on speaker. “He was already dead by the time we found him.”

“Where’s Damien?” Asher inquires. After a moment of silence, he lets out a breath, jumping straight back to business. “Fuck. I’ll fill Killian in.”

“Good.”

“You think we could somehow pull him out of it?” Apollo asks.

“No. He’s too unstable right now. Volatile. Don’t go anywhere near him. Make that very clear.”

“Got it,” Asher replies. “Last time he disappeared it was only for two days, right?”

“Yeah, but it can last up to a week depending on his trigger.”

“In the meantime, we’ll follow behind him and clean up the trail of bodies,” Micah declares.

“Has anything come through the police scanner?” I question, crossing my fingers that the answer is no .

“Nothing yet,” Apollo replies. In response, I release a sharp, thankful breath. “Liam has been listening in since the disappearances of the girls. I told him to report back if anything comes up.”

“Last time Damien was triggered, it almost got him killed,” Micah lets out warily. “ I’ll follow him so he doesn’t get hurt. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

“He’s been spiraling for the last few weeks,” I point out. “We need to get rid of this body. With all this blood, it’s going to take a while to get rid of the evidence. We need to check for security cameras, too.”

“Go find him,” Asher orders. “We’ll send a few guys there to start the clean up on this one.”

“I’ll call Marcus,” Micah offers.

“I got it,” Apollo confirms. “Good thing we have him on speed dial and he doesn’t sleep.”

“Put her on the phone,” I tell him.

About a minute later, Quinn’s voice is like music to my ears. “Are you guys okay?” she demands, her voice shaky and unsettled.

“We’re okay, baby,” Micah coos. “How are you holding up?”

“Are you alright?” I ask her.

“I’m fine,” she softly replies. “I feel better now that I’m hearing your voices. When will you be here? I’m so creeped out.”

“We’re so sorry, Quinn,” I tell her wholeheartedly. “This has been one hell of a night.”

“Why are your friends watching me? This is so weird.”

“We just want to make sure you’re alright since we’re not there.”

“Well… hurry back?”

“We have to take care of something really quick,” Micah tells her carefully, “but then we should be home. Okay, love?”

“Alright. And Damien?” she questions. “I haven’t heard his voice yet.” We both look at each other. It’s clear the both of us aren’t sure how the hell we’re supposed to respond. “Is he not with you?”

Micah’s lips part as if he’s about to answer truthfully, but I cut him off.

“You know how he is,” I tell her, trying to make light of the situation. “He’s out looking for the fuckers that scared you.”

“He’s not answering his phone when I call. That’s not like him. I’m worried.”

“Baby, listen to me,” I let out, trying my best to ease her fears. “You’re safe. That’s all that matters. Everything is going to be okay.”

“Hurry back.”

“We will,” I confirm.

“Jensen?” she urges, her voice trailing off. “I may have been na?ve when you first met me, but I’m not anymore. I know there’s something you guys aren’t telling me. I don’t know why you’re keeping stuff from me, but that needs to change. It’s going to change.”

Micah lowers his gaze to the ground, consumed with remorse.

Through the guilt, I can’t help the grin that claims my face. She’s grown so much, and she’s so damn smart. I’m so proud of the woman she is. “I know, baby. You’re right.”

“Please be safe. All of you. It’s not just my safety that matters.”

My heart twinges. I really hate lying to her, and even though the three of us have decided it’s finally time to tell her the truth, telling her at this moment would not be the right call.